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Mount Currie asks British Columbians to ignore treaty referendum

A local First Nations leader is asking nearby communities to ignore next month's mail out referendum on native treaty issues, calling it a farce.

A local First Nations leader is asking nearby communities to ignore next month's mail out referendum on native treaty issues, calling it a farce.

"We would ask all our neighbours not to participate," said Lyle Leo, CEO of the Mount Currie band near Pemberton.

"We have chosen to develop positive working relationships with all our neighbours and all levels of government in the Sea to Sky Corridor and (are asking them) to disregard this referendum."

The Mount Currie band, also known as the Lil’wat Nation, is not part of the treaty negotiation process, nor are approximately 30 per cent of all First Nations communities in B.C. But the outcome of the referendum will affect all First Nations people in the province, said Leo.

"It will ultimately affect us even if we aren't in the treaty process," he said.

The referendum was designed to guide the province's approach to treaty negotiations. After more than a decade the treaty process hasn’t produced an actual treaty.

Instead of solving the issues, some consider the government’s eight-part questionnaire to be an overlap of work which has already been done.

"We felt that what it is that they're seeking... the principles to guide negotiations, are already in place," said Kathryn Teneese, an executive member of the First Nations Summit.

There is skepticism among native leaders that the average person in B.C. will not be able to understand or appreciate the eight questions in the ballot.

"We believe that the general public at large is not fully informed and educated on the aboriginal issues directed to their relationship to the land," said Leo.

The government should have conducted a public education campaign if they were determined to go ahead with the referendum, said Teneese.

"I think that perhaps if we were going to go down this road that we should have been looking at opportunities for public education on the issues," she said.

"We are also concerned with the fact we’re talking about minority rights that are being placed before an (uninformed) majority to make a decision."

She calls the ballot a "public opinion poll" and said the government is simply passing the buck and dumping the decision of native rights on residents.

The ballots will be mailed out starting April 2 and residents have until May 15 to send the ballots back.

They will be asked to vote Yes or No to each of the following eight principles:

Do you agree that the provincial government should adopt the following principles to guide its participation in treaty negotiations?

• Private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements.

• The terms and conditions of leases and licences should be respected; fair compensation for unavoidable disruption of commercial interests should be ensured.

• Hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities on crown land should be ensured for all British Columbians.

• Province-wide standards of resource management and environmental protection should continue to apply.

• Aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbia.

• Treaties should include mechanisms for harmonizing land use planning between Aboriginal governments and neighbouring local governments.

• The existing tax exemptions for Aboriginal people should be phased out.

The questions have been called ambiguous and racist by the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Chief Stewart Phillip.

"It's a pointless exercise," he said.

"It's a colossal waste of time, energy and money that could be better spend (elsewhere)."

The referendum is part of a campaign promise made by Premier Gordon Campbell last year. He said there would be a vote on the treaty process within a year of the Liberals taking power.

The Liberals had a tremendous opportunity to make headway with the native land claims issue after being voted into power with such a huge majority, said Phillip.

"(Gordon Campbell's) unprecedented majority provides a tremendous opportunity to deal with this historic unresolved issue of aboriginal title," he said.

"By virtue of the majority that they enjoy, they could commit to good faith negotiations and resolve this issue if they so choose."

He said this referendum is the wrong way to resolve the issue and will not change anything.

"We're sick and tired of throne speeches," he said.

"We're sick and tired of royal commissions and recommendations that come forward and are ignored. We're sick and tired of court decisions that are ignored.

We live with the poverty day in and day out. We live with the terrible social ills that the poverty creates day in and day out. And that's where the frustration is coming from."

Despite treaty negotiations crumbling around B.C., the Mount Currie band has been making great strides in developing working relationships with their surrounding communities.

About two weeks ago First Nations and community leaders in the area met in Pemberton for the first time to explore ways they can work together to create co-operative structures for shared ideas, opportunities and initiatives.

"(Instead of the referendum) they could have put together a meaningful process that engaged all the First Nations in B.C. and as complex as that seems, it is achievable," said Leo.

The referendum will be administered by Elections B.C.

The results will be announced as soon as the counting is finished.

According to the Referendum Act, the results will be binding on the government if more than 50 per cent vote the same way on a question.

Attorney General Geoff Plant, who tabled the referendum questions in the provincial legislation last week, was not available for comment.